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Lanning becomes no. 1 ranked T20I batter

Dubai, Feb 3 IBNS | 1 year ago

Australia's stand-in captain Meg Lanning has become the number-one ranked batter in the Reliance ICC Women's Rankings for T20I Batters after producing a good performance in the recently concluded T20I series against England.

Lanning, who scored 143 runs in the series, has replaced England's Sarah Taylor who had been sitting on top of the tree since October 2012.

The latest rankings were released a day after Australia beat England by seven wickets to claim the three-match series 2-1. The latest version also includes the tri-series in Qatar that involved Ireland, South Africa and eventual winner Pakistan as well as the Sri Lanka-India series, which was won by the former.

The players to make the biggest all-round impact were Ireland's Isobel Joyce and Sri Lanka captain Shashikala Siriwardena.

Siriwardena has jumped 13 places to a career-best 16th on the batters' table following her 119 runs in the three matches. She also took three wickets to move up four places to a best-ever 13th on the Reliance ICC Women's Player Rankings for T20I Bowlers, a position she jointly holds with Pakistan captain Sana Mir who has also moved up six places.

The combined effort with the bat and ball has meant that Siriwardena has also moved up two places to a career-high second on the Reliance ICC Women's Player Rankings for T20I All-rounders.

Joyce, on the other hand, has moved up 12 places to 19th in the batting table after scoring 118 runs in the tri-series and has gained 13 places to 22nd on the bowlers' chart. Her combined effort with bat and ball has meant that she has moved up seven places to a career-best third on the all-rounders' table.

Meanwhile, England's Danielle has leaped three places to second in the latest Reliance ICC Women's Player Rankings for T20I Bowlers. Also moving up inside the top 10 is Marizanne Kapp in fourth (up by two).

ICC also informed that the number of teams in the ICC Women's World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 has been increased from eight to 10. The first round matches of the women's event will take place in Sylhet from March 23 to April 2, with the top two sides from each Group progressing to the semi-finals.

The 10 sides have been divided into two Groups, which are:

Group A - Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Ireland

Group B - England, West Indies, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Defending champion Australia will kick-off its campaign on March 23 when it will take on New Zealand. This game will be followed by the match between South Africa and Pakistan, which, along with Sri Lanka, qualified for the Bangladesh event after having reached the final of the qualifying tournament held in Dublin in August.

Host Bangladesh will make its maiden appearance on the world stage on 26 March when it will play last year's semi-finalist, West Indies. 2009 champion England will start its campaign on 24 March against the West Indies.

Reliance ICC Women's Player Rankings for T20Is (as of 3 February after Qatar tri-series, India-Sri Lanka and Australia-England series)